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Lente Founder Chris Monsod's Opening Remarks Posted on
LENTE National Evaluation Conference on the May 2010 Elections.
Opening Remarks of Christian S. Monsod
When Sara Jane texted me yesterday, she asked me to give an inspirational talk to start the proceedings today. But I did not think that you needed to be inspired. The fact that you volunteered for LENTE, forsaking more lucrative alternatives, means that you are driven by a greater nobility of purpose than I could adequately express. And it was I who needed to listen because what you have to say about the elections must be the truth of what happened at the ground level, where elections really matter. Moreover, your insights on how democracy fared with automation and on the many instances of the same problems of the past are valuable inputs on what should be corrected, improved and built on for future elections.
A book entitled Philippine Democracy Assessment, a joint project of the British Council, Fredrich-Eber-Stiftung, Philippine Democracy Audit and Transparency and Accountability Network suggests that it is more meaningful to go beyond measuring the “success” of democracy to a measurement of its quality depending not on “expert common sense”, which is usually critical of and cynical of democracies, but more on “people common sense”, which is more optimistic and supportive of democracy. It suggests that changes in the everyday practices and assumptions of citizens may have greater impact on the institutions of the Philippine State, than more formal means such as changing the structure of government..
The “people common sense” approach is more important because it is what citizens themselves are saying about their priorities and aspirations, or what James Surowiecki aptly describes as the unerring “wisdom of crowds”. Which articulates the basic principle of democracy that “the many are smarter than the few”. And why our collective intelligence, as expressed in free and fair elections, however imperfect it may be, is what ultimately makes a democracy work and the common good realizable.
If we don’t look beyond the short-term events, the political games, the sometimes perplexing contradictions in the way our people made their choices, we might miss the deeper currents that evoke optimism about the future of our country. That, despite signs of frustration about democracy as a means to a better life, our people still prefer it to any other system and wanted so much for the elections to succeed. No amount of inconvenience or warnings of doomsday scenarios or attempts to undermine it or incompetence and inefficiency on the part of those who managed it could stand in the way of that conviction. The sovereign will still prevailed. And LENTE is about the stories of ordinary citizens like you who helped make this happen in extraordinary ways. It is called nation-building..
After today, we will go back to our respective communities, wiser by the experience, richer in our friendships and more hopeful of a new day. But if democracy, according to Vaclav Havel, is the unfinished story of human aspiration, we will meet again. In the next elections and the next one after that. And in many battles still to be won. Because we know that reform and change take time. But we are in this for the long-run. And making the journey is half the battle won.
You have served our country from the heart and did it proud. It is now our turn to thank you, from the heart.
Lente Media Report Posted on
The Media Team
The two-man Lente media team is composed of Atty. Sara Jane Suguitan, who is Lente’s media chief, and Mr. Philip Lustre Jr, an outside media consultant whom Lente has hired to help meet Lente’s growing media requirements.
There is no exact and official delineation of functions, although Lente’s media team has been working in a spirit of cooperation and collaboration. The team members have their media contacts, which proved to be important in projecting Lente before the general public.
In some instances, Atty. Suguitan performed the role of spokesperson and talking head primarily on sensitive topics, which would require the shielding of main Lente officials from unnecessary controversy and unwarranted criticism.
Objectives
Lente’s media team has been working in pursuit of the following strategic objectives: first and most important, to put Lente in the map and project Lente as a serious national watch organization, at par with the other watch organization, PPCRV; second, to report dutifully to the Filipino people Lente’s objectives ad activities; and third, to neutralize any adverse publicity against Lente.
In pursuing its objectives, the media team has devised the following tactical moves: first, cultivate the traditional mainline mass media outfits, composed mainly of major national newspapers (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, Businessmirror, Businessworld, and Pilipino Star, among others), major provincial newspapers (Sunstar Chain, Gold Star daily, among others), and major broadcast networks (radio and tv) composed of ABS CBN and ANC, GMA 7 and QTV, and TV5 for tv, DZXL, DXMM, DZBB, DZRH, and DWIZ for radio.
The media team has also cultivated nontraditional media outfits, which include the online based media like Newsbreak, GMA-7 online, ABS CBN online, and TV5 online. There were occasions when the media team posted reports and views on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
As a result of the media team’s initiatives, Lente is now on the radar screen of the mainstream traditional mass media. Lente is taken seriously and in the press conferences it hosted, representatives of these mainstream media outfits were conspicuously present.
Press conferences
Lente had hosted at least six press conferences, which were attended by media representatives. These are:
Feb 16 press con at IBP re: official launching of Lente and the signing of MOA between Lente and its member organizations;
April 30 presscon at Max’s restaurant at Intramuros re: announcement of Comelec accreditation of Lente;
May 9 presscon at IBP re Lente’s preparations for the May 10 presidential elections;
May 10 presscon at IBP re Lente’s field report of election offenses;
May 15 presscon at Aristocrat retaurant in Malate re postmortem analysis of the last elections and proposed electoral reforms; and
June 4 presscon in Marawi City re Lente’s observations of the special elections in Lanao del Sur.
The media team had worked to invite representatives of major traditional media outfits to attend and make appropriate reporting on the pronouncements of Lente officials in these press conferences. Overall, the response was overwhelmingly positive as shown by their enthusiastic presence and adequate reporting.
Radio interviews
The media team also facilitated radio and tv interviews where key Lente officials were asked by radio and tv hosts to speak in a question and answer format. Phonepatched interviews were arranged with radio stations like DZXL, DZRH, DWIZ, DZBB, and DZMM.
The interviews were largely helpful in explaining before the public, especially the rural-based population, which has limited access to newspapers and other printed materials, the key issues confronting Lente and its watchdog functions and preparations.
The TV interviews provided Lente officials a major forum to explain its role and activity as a watch organization. At the height of the election campaign and election proper, Lente officials spoke before the TV audience its own story.
Press releases
Lente had issued at least 20 press releases on various topics, which include the following: Lente’s plan to review Smartmatic contract; Lente to send 50-man delegation to Lanao del Sur special elections; Lente’s stand on election sabotage issue; Comelec accreditation of Lente; Lente-PNP MOA; Lente new book on election offenses; Lente’s MOA with member organizations; Lente’s MOA with C-CARE; Lente’s field reports on May 10 election offenses; Lente to file anonymous complaints against election offenders; Lente’s clarification as not an adjunct or legal arm of PPCRV; Lente’s breaking reports on first instances of election offenses; among others.
These press releases either saw print on major newspapers or were aired by large radio networks. In many instances, news reporters, editors, and opinion writers are in touch with the Lente media team. This has been part of developing Lente’s credibility as a major national watch organization.
Nontraditonal media and website
This is exactly the reason why Lente’s website could be regarded an accessible online site that contains important information. The press releases and other pertinent information about Lente have been amply published there, allowing visitors to see Lente as an electoral watch institution.
Largely through the efforts of Atty Suguitan, Lente’s Facebook account has at least 800 hits recorded every week. The Lente’s facebook account has a link to Lente’s official website.
Lente’s book
The media team has taken the initiative to distribute Lente’s first book on election offenses to major mass media outfits, which in a way has allowed the team to share information, which media would use in its reporting activity. At least 200 copies were given to media people.
Forums and TV shows
The media team had facilitated the presence of Lente officials in media forums like Kapihan sa Sulo (May 2 and 29), and Catholic Mass Media forum, where Atty. Suguitan discussed the issue of election sabotage as a crime under the automated election law.
The media team had facilitated the presence of Lente officials in TV shows like QTV (four times) TV5 (four times), Teleradyo (weekly), ANC, among others.
Conclusion
The media team has performed credibly in projecting Lente as a serious and major watch organization, the activity of which could be regarded as newsworthy.
Lente has to live with the thought that whatever it does – now or in the future – would be imbued with public interest. Mass media therefore will take interest in Lente. #
The Lente Experience in 2010 Presidential Elections Posted on
The Lente Experience in 2010 Presidential Elections
By Roan Libarios
Lente convenor
We have gathered here today mainly to draw a complete overview of our collective experiences in the concluded presidential elections. As the first ever automated presidential elections in our political history, the 2010 elections have offered us a new political landscape from which Lente has to work and fulfill its mandate.
It was not a picnic, or a walk in the park to work under a new electoral environment. Until now, automation is not fully understood in this country. While everybody agrees on the imperatives of an automated election, not all people understand its working mechanism or details.
Since the inception of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections in 2007, we, the leaders of Lente, have come to terms with the ultimate reality that Lente, the institution, has to work in a political environment characterized by so many imperfections.
For instance, the Filipino people have to exercise their right to suffrage in an electoral system that has long been described as elitist, inefficient, obscenely corrupt, and grossly inadequate to reflect their sovereign will.
Whether we like to admit it or not, the much ballyhooed guns, goons and gold, plus glitches, continue to form a larger part of our political culture.
The Commission on Elections, the constitutional body that exercises quasi-judicial functions on election-related matters, is enormously powerful - but only on paper. In actuality, Comelec embodies weaknesses that validate the claim that ours is but a soft state. At its worst, Comelec personifies the collective sense of helplessness or even powerlessness in our exercise of sovereign power.
The constitutional provision on a multi-party system exacerbates the already deplorable state of our electoral system. The multiparty system virtually allows a minority president, which means that only a plurality of votes is required to get the popular nod from our people.
This requirement for plurality of votes is not good for any nation that has claim or pretension of being a democracy. From a political standpoint, a minority president is inherently weak, as he does not enjoy the popular support. Under this political environment, every vote is very important.
Lente has the dual role to help and do its share in correcting the inherent flaws in our electoral system and assure that every vote is counted to reflect the sovereign will of our people.
Lente has to minimize whatever damage the grossly imperfect electoral processes could bring to the nation.
In attempting to fulfill the dual role to protect the sanctity of the ballot, Lente has to stand on a strong foundation, which is the concept of public accountability. A public office is a public trust, so the constitution says.
The first ever fully automated presidential elections offered Lente enormous challenges. This was the first time we had an automated electoral system. We were all in the dark on how it would fare. But we persisted and held on to the firm belief that our country never had any previous failure of elections.
If a united states-based consulting outfit was correct, the 2010 automated presidential elections in the Philippines was, in a sense, a watershed in international political history. It marked for the first time that a country had a relatively successful transition from a purely manual electoral system to one that is regarded as fully automated.
The April 26, 2010 en banc resolution of the commission on elections has officially made Lente its citizens’ arm, which is tasked with these functions: first, to educate our voters, many of whom have remained ignorant of their political rights; second, to monitor the elections; and third, to provide legal assistance to citizens whose rights have been violated and even other watch organizations in need of legal services.
I am happy to declare that Lente has performed these functions. As one of the two national organizations which Comelec has duly accredited as citizens’ arms, Lente has established presence in 70 of the country’s 83 provinces and in every major city in the country.
Despite its limited resources and meager preparations, Lente has recruited, mobilized, and fielded nearly three thousand volunteers composed mostly of lawyers, law students, and paralegal workers, who all braved the electoral front to spread the gospel of democracy.
Also, Lente, as the parent organization, has mobilized its member organizations like the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines – National Secretariat for Social Action, Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy, National Movement for Free Elections, We Watch, Libertas, One Voice, Pugadlawin, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
What we did in the last elections was collective work in plain and simple language.
Lest we lull into complacency, let me remind you that the last elections had opened a new vista of challenges, which we have to confront in the coming weeks and months.
The first issue is transparency. Almost the entire nation was held in the dark on the nature of an automated electoral system. It was only days after the elections that many issues were finally explained before our people.
If we were to automate future elections, we have to press for the adoption of a transparent automated electoral process so that our people and all those contending forces would have a firm grasp and understanding of its dynamics and mechanism.
Moreover, a transparent automated electoral process would prevent the procedural lapse, where election lawyers had ended ignorant of the technical aspects of the system. A healthy balance between the letters of the law and the technological aspects of automation has to be sustained.
The second issue is management of polling centers. If we were to make the next automated elections successful, we have to press Comelec for the adoption of an appropriate management of all those polling precincts. We have to avoid the ungodly sight of voters forming long lines under a boiling sun.
A viable management system of polling precincts would prevent the unpalatable disenfranchisement of our voters, whose fault in life is their wish to exercise their right to suffrage.
The third issue is the creation of a healthy working environment and relationship among Comelec, citizens’ watch organizations, mass media, and other institutions and sectors to effect a rightful mix of energy and dynamism.
A synergy of sort among these institutions and sectors has to be created to avoid the influx of destructive tendencies.
This morning, you will present your collective experiences with the firm objective to synthesize them into a coherent whole and become the bases of a new set of electoral reforms, which Lente will propose before the commission on elections.
You will share your individual insights and observations on a wide range of topics and issues including the conduct of the last polls, the perceived election offenses and potential and actual violations of RA 9369, or the Automated Election Law of 2007.
You will provide us glimpses of all those observable peculiarities in our automated electoral system so that we could conceive of a new action plan and redefine our concept of a sustainable electoral process.
Moreover, we will try to play by ear whether it is appropriate for Lente to participate in the barangay elections, which are slated in October this year.
Whatever decision we reach, we hope to make our participation more enlightening and sustainable in preaching the gospel of democracy, more enriching and fulfilling to instill the value of public accountability on our people, and more meaningful for all Lente volunteers, who have continuously displayed moral courage and energy amid an unforgiving political terrain.
Thank you and good morning.
Lente to hold national evaluation conference on June 5 Posted on
Press Statement
09175116699
Lente to hold national evaluation conference on June 5
Leaders of some 70 provincial chapters of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) will hold a one-day national evaluation conference on Saturday (June 5) to assess the conduct of the just concluded first automated presidential elections and come out with a set of proposed electoral reforms, it was announced today.
Lente convenor Roan Libarios said some 500 provincial leaders will attend the one-day national conference at New Horizon Hotel in Mandaluyong City in a major effort to make a final evaluation on a nationwide scale on the conduct of the last presidential polls.
According to Libarios, Lente's mandate as one of the two national citizens' arms accredited by the Commission of Elections includes the presentation of an official report and a proposal for electoral reforms to improve the nation's electoral system.
"We intend to fulfill our mandate. We will present our official report to Comelec and our proposed electoral reforms," Libarios said.
During the presidential elections, some 3,000 Lente volunteers, mostly lawyers and paralegal workers, performed voters' education, conducted monitoring activities and provided legal assistance to various people and groups, which encountered difficulties.
Lente also sent volunteers in the seven Lanao del Sur towns, which had special elections June 3.
The one-day conference will highlight the various provincial reports of Lente leaders. Each provincial leader will present a report on the actual conduct of the polls and the difficulties the voters had encountered in those provinces.
They will make evaluations on the following areas: management of polling precincts; canvassing and transmission issues; and overall conduct of the elections. 30
Shooting halts voting in Lanao Sur precinct Posted on
Shooting halts voting in Lanao Sur precinct MARAWI CITY, Philippines—Voting was halted in one clustered polling place in Sultan Dumalondong town in Lanao del Sur after gunshots became more frequent around its vicinity Thursday afternoon.
According to Major Ferdinand Cacas, chief of the 103rd Brigade Election Monitoring and Action Center, the Board of Election Inspectors in the area decided to stop the balloting to ensure their own safety as well as that of the voters.
Two M-203 shots followed by sporadic gunfire from an M-60 sub-machine gun were first heard in Sitio Punong, Barangay Bacayawan around 12:50 p.m.
Cacas said the gunfire appeared to be calculated to “threaten the voters and disrupt the ongoing special election activity in the area.”
The school hosts three clustered polling places out of Sultan Dumalondong town’s 11 clustered precincts comprising 7,181 voters.
Cacas said he expected some security problems in Sultan Dumalondong because of the intensity of the political contest there.
For one, the mayoral post is being contested by 11 aspirants, many of whom are related to each other. The eight municipal council seats were contested by 33 candidates.
In Lumba-Bayabao town, a child was injured as shots were fired amid during the balloting in a polling place, said Jennie Balmes, a volunteer of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), which was monitoring the special elections.
Except for these two incidents, the special elections in the rest of the seven towns were generally peaceful with an expected high turnout of voters.
Security was very tight in the polling centers with the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army sending substantial troop contingents to ensure order.
Brig. Gen. Rey Ardo, commanding general of the Army’s 103rd Brigade, said soldiers were deployed principally for perimeter security of the towns to deter private armed groups.
Early in the morning, Ardo led a patrol around Lake Lanao aimed at preventing the possible transport of armed groups from other lake-side towns into the areas with special polls.
As the election paraphernalia were transported early in the morning, Army choppers hovered over the air to provide air cover.
The clustering of polling centers contributed to the ease in providing security cover to the precincts.
Of the 190 total precincts in the seven towns, the Comelec compressed them into 27 clustered polling centers.
The tight guarding led to the confiscation of two handguns in Sultan Dumalondong; one in a checkpoint in Barangay Bacayawan and another in Barangay Lumbac from a man who was lining up to enter the voting center.
Engr. Mamamenor Sangcopan, a voter in Bayang town, lauded the deployment of police-BEIs “because it ensures order in the precincts.”
Sangcopan said that had teachers overseen balloting, “saboteurs would be very bold to disrupt the process.”
The BEIs in Bayang town refused to serve during the May 10 elections because of security concerns.
In Sultan Dumalondong, the BEIs only conducted a demo of the PCOS machine to voters and did not use it because there was no power supply. Hence, the complteted ballots were simply dropped inside the ballot boxes.
According to one BEI chair, the machines were tested and found to be functional on Wednesday evening.